leskie

Thoughts on Xi'an: I like the random thoughts lists, therefore I will continue: 1) Dust from the Gobi Desert constantly raining on the city makes my contacts hurt. 2) Because of the Gobi Desert Sand, you can park a car outside, and the next day you'll find a thin film of yellow grime on your car. Car washes don't seem too popular here. 3) Terracotta warriors: looks like the pictures. It is quite impressive though to be standing in an archeological site that is continually still unearthing more and more warriors. around 20 000 were uncovered so far, and they're still piecing together more. Some warriors were pieced together through sifting through mounds of pieces. Each warrior has its own unique facial features. And what's more interesting is that you can tell through the exquisite detail ... read more

Well, i've been in this lovely country for over 3 months now, so nautrally to celebrate my quarter year anniversairy in China, it's a blog update! insert cheers, applause, flowers thrown, and confetti released So, RANDOM CHINA THOUGHTS.... 1) Students like to change their names. All. the. time. So you think it's hard to memorize 150 student names? WELL, let me tell you! It's worst to remember 150 student names if the students continually change them throughout the year! "Ryan can you give me that answer please?" "I'm not Ryan anymore teacher. I changed my name to Conann." "What?" "Too many students have the name Ryan, so I changed it to Conann last week." "Oh. okay." "And the answer's two." "Thanks Ry-er...Connan. Leonardo, can you give me the next answer?" no answer "Leonardo?" "Teacher, I changed ... read more

China thoughts... So here I am in Dalian, China, starting my first year of teaching! Whoo! First impressions: Dalian is extremely beautiful! Not like I expected! When I think of mainland China, I’m not going to lie, I’ve always imagined it to be a bit of a human wasteland. I imagined sand everywhere, no greenery and all, packed with people, shacks/apartments, and very very dirty. Well, wheen we drove in, we were all pleasantly surprised to find, TREES! GRASS! FLOWERS! BUSHES! UNOCCUPIED LAND! And man, Dalian does a great job with the upkeep, because all the bushes and flower beds are beautifully maintained (I guess you can do that when labour comes cheap!). I was definitely in awe when I saw how nicely kept everything was! Grass and trees lined the sides of the roads and ... read more

It's been a whole month since I left London Heathrow airport back for Canada, and I can honestly say that I miss Europe so much. and am more than ready to go back again next year! Here are some final thoughts that i jotted down a month ago on the plane back to Toronto.... -------------------------------------------------- As i sit on the plane, I think about all the new things I've done this trip, all the new things i saw, and the new people i met. Not only that though, i saw friends who i had not seen in quite a long while, and talking to them, it was like no time had passed at all! I really do love travelling! The adventures, the challenges, the freedom. It's definitely an amazing feeling. Though i'm excited to go home, ... read more

May 16/09 Off to Dublin we go! BUUUUT, no. that WAS the plan, but that part of the trip doesn't exactly happen for me quite yet. After saying our goodbyes to Alan and Steph, Michelle and I head to Gatwick airport. We already had our online check-in done, but we go to the check-in desk anyway to give in Michelle's bag. We go towards the desk, and the official there waves away our papers, saying that we don't need to show him it. Michelle explains that she has checked luggage, and so he takes it and stamps her paper. I, on the other hand, had no luggage to check-in, so i did not get the stamp, nor did the official ask to stamp it. So i breeze through security and other checkpoints with that sheet i ... read more